[Intro] (Wind. Church bell. Spurs on a wooden porch.) [Spoken — Sheriff] Every town has its secrets... Ours carries a doctor's bag. If Miss Blackwood tells you to run... ...Run. Verse 1 I've worn this badge near thirty years, seen plenty fools with guns. Most thought they feared the Devil... 'Til they met the gentle one. She's there when sickness takes the town, She's there when winter's cold. She gives a man a second chance... Long before she's forced to draw. Chorus This is your final chance. Lay that revolver down. There ain't no pride worth dying for before that old church bell sounds. She'll ask you nice. She'll ask you twice. She'll pray you see the sun. Don't make her say it plain, son... Just turn... And run. Verse 2 She set her doctor's satchel down, folded spectacles away. Hung her hat upon the hitching post... Like she knew she'd have to stay. Summer breeze went winter-cold. Shadows crawled along the ground. Every horse quit fussin'... without a single sound. Chorus This is your final chance. Don't mistake her heart for weak. It's carried her for centuries... Don't make vengeance speak. She'll ask you nice. She'll ask you twice. Don't make her come undone. Ain't no shame in walkin' off... Just turn... And run. Bridge (Music nearly stops.) Folks ask what Cottonwood's secret is. It weren't the fangs. It weren't the eyes. It was... The silence. (Resonator, bass, and drum strike together.) Ivory lengthened past her lips. Teal fire swallowed up her eyes. Three men watched the doctor vanish... Far too late to realize. Church bell struck for high noon. Folks still ask me how she reached those men. [Spoken] Son... I ain't never seen her move. Verse 3 First man gasped against her shoulder, then his boots went slack in dust. Second fought. The third one bolted. Neither made it far enough. Bell still tollin'. Three men emptied. Blood ran black across her teeth. Then the hunger broke like fever... She raised her head... And saw what we had seen. Verse 4 Porches. Faces. Men and women. Children watching farther back. Never saw her fear a gunman. Never saw her blanch at lead. Never saw that woman frightened... Till she saw what we had seen. Verse 5 She sank beside the old town well, scrubbed red from shaking hands. Then one little girl slipped past me... Wildflower in her hand. Lord knows I tried to call her back. Reached— missed her by a hand. Maybe six years old at most, Too young to understand. Verse 6 Small boots crossed that empty square. Blackwood sat there still as sin. She laid that battered roadside bloom in bloodstained fingertips. Teal still burning in her gaze. Blood gone dark against her skin. Then all at once the tears broke loose... Still wearin' the monster's eyes. Verse 7 She bowed above that little bloom, shoulders shaking toward the ground. When she could finally stand again... She picked her doctor's bag back up. And we knew she'd come when we called. Final Chorus That was your final chance. You could've walked away. She offered every road to peace... You chose another way. So don't curse the Witch. Don't curse the night. Don't curse what you've begun. Every town has its secrets... This one's... Ours. Outro (Wind. One church bell.) [Spoken — Sheriff] Every town has its secrets... Ours carries a doctor's bag. If Miss Blackwood tells you to run... ...Run.
